Reference Ace › Guides › What can a former employer legally say about you in NZ?
The lines references cannot cross, and the ones they can.
Opinions in a reference should be honest, truthful and relevant to your work performance. That is the purpose of the exercise.
Personal information without reason, defamatory statements, and discrimination on any Human Rights Act ground: gender, pregnancy, disability, ethnicity, age, political opinion, religious belief.
Most ex-employers confirm dates and title and give a guarded but fair view. A brief lifts guarded into specific, legally.
If asked directly, an honest, factual answer is allowed. The brief should agree on how it gets framed honestly.
If true and relevant, yes, though many will simply confirm dates and decline to elaborate, which is their right too.
You can ask your referee directly what they would say, and some employers share notes if asked. The Reference Ace practice check does exactly this, before it matters.
Reference Ace checks real examples of your work, confirms they're yours, and vouches for them to employers by name, always as an independent reviewer and never as a former boss. Got a referee already? We brief them and run the practice check before a real employer calls.
See how it works and pricing